mr. lamon gwynn. he shared his story with me so others would know how this program needed to change, so other veterans would bicht and he decided after a year of dealing with the v.a. sumly to give up on choice. i don't want to let that happen. i don't want veterans to give up on choice. i don't want the department of veterans fairs to have the excuse to say choice is not a valuable program. veterans don't like it and come back to congress and tell us that it's no longer needed. if i was home in kansas, i'd explain it this way. again, my hometown, plainville, population now 1,900, used to have rail service. over time the rail service diminished and became less effective, the rates went up and fewer people used the rail service, the railroad to haul grain, in particular. then the railroad could go to the regulators and say, hey, nobody is using the railroad. can we just abandon it? and i worry that that kind of attitude and approach could happen with this issue if we don't make certain that our veteran

pleased now to yield to a returning member to the budget committee, the gentleman from new hampshire, mr. gwynn-- gruinaa. >> in manchester, when i was mayor, we cut taxes and brought the city back to life while growing the economy. it benefitted not just our city but our entire state. that's what i i think we hope to do here today. as we mark up in budget resolution standing in stark contrast with president obama's short-sighted proposal, i echo the concerns of my colleagues. our nation's $19 trillion debt is unsustainable and according to the cbo, government spending will reach 21.2% of gdp in 2016. this threatens to devour funding for health and retirement programs as well as funding for national defense but this administration's tax-and-spend policies have not worked to revive the economy. in fact, this is the worst economy recovery on record. granite staters and americans need more opportunity, more jobs and higher wages, more freedom to make their own decisions in their best own interests, they expect the federal government to spend their hard earned dollars wisely and to produce results,